Lai Chi Kok

Lai Chi Kok (Chinese: 荔枝角) is a neighborhood in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, east of Kwai Chung and west of Cheung Sha Wan. Mei Foo Sun Chuen is the largest housing estate in the area and also the largest in the HKSAR with 99 blocks. Administratively, it belongs to the Sham Shui Po District.

History

Lai Chi Kok literally means "lychee corner", referring to a river named after a type of fruit tree native to Hong Kong. The river once separated Cheung Sha Wan from Lai Chi Kok Bay, and a river from Butterfly Valley separated Cheung Sha Wan from Lai Chi Kok. At the innermost area of Lai Chi Kok Bay, namely present-day Lai King Hill Road, is a settlement called Kau Wa Keng.

The Qing government had set up a customs station in Lai Chi Kok, to collect customs duties after ceding Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula to the British. After the lease of the New Territories, the British reclaimed Lai Chi Kok for military use. A torpedo storage facility was also erected on the west point of Lai Chi Kok Bay, an area near Kwai Chung.

Lai Chi Kok Station

Lai Chi Kok Station is a rapid transit station on the Tsuen Wan Line of the Hong Kong MTR system, between Cheung Sha Wan and Mei Foo. It was opened in 1982.

The station is in an orange-red livery, and is a simple through station with an island platform. Platform screen doors have been retrofitted along both platforms in this station.

Although the station is called Lai Chi Kok, it is located in Cheung Sha Wan. Passengers can use this station to access the southern part of Cheung Sha Wan. Cheung Sha Wan used to be an industrialized area, but in recent years, four high quality residential developments have been built on the reclaimed land, namely Banyan Gardens, liberté, The Pacifica and Aqua Marine. There is a pedestrian tunnel to connect these developments.

In addition, industrial buildings are being demolished and being rebuilt into brand new commercial buildings. The re-purposing of industrial units into office and retail units has led to the station having a high stream of passengers during peak hours.

Quarry Bay

Quarry Bay (Chinese: 鰂魚涌) is an area beneath Mount Parker in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. The western portion of the area was also formerly known as Lai Chi (麗池). Traditionally being an industrial and residential area, the number of commercial buildings in this district has increased over the past two decades.

History

During Colonial Hong Kong times, the Hakka stonemasons settled in the area after the British arrival.

The area was a bay where quarried rocks from the hillside for construction or building roads were transported by ship. The Chinese name Tsak Yue Chung (鰂魚涌) reveals that it was a small stream where crucian carp (鰂魚) could be found back in the 19th century. The English name was Arrow Fish Creek. The original bay has disappeared since land reclamation had been taken place, and was about 700m from the current coastline.

Taikoo

The eastern part of Quarry Bay, namely Quarry Point, was largely owned by Swire and therefore many places and facilities are named after the company's Chinese name, Taikoo. The river originally flowed into the bay, however it was shut off from the sea with the construction of the Tai Koo Reservoir to supply fresh water to the Taikoo Dockyard, the Taikoo Sugar factory at Tong Chong Street (糖廠街), and later the Swire Coca-Cola factory at Greig Road (基利路) and Yau Man Street (佑民街). The upper course of the river was converted into a cement-paved catchwater, and the lower course is the present-day Quarry Bay Street (鰂魚涌街), with the original estuary near the Quarry Bay Street - King's Road junction.

Lai Chi (football)

Lai Chi Football Team, simply known as Lai Chi is a football team based in Macau S.A.R., China. Currently, Lai Chi plays in the Liga de Elite, previously known as Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol, organized by the Associação de Futebol de Macau. The 1,700-capacity Campo de Futebol da UCTM is their home stadium.

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